PRAGMA — Pacific Rim Applications and Grid Middleware Assembly

During an individual’s career, science and engineering will continue to metamorphose as international activities require broader international skill sets. The growing cyberinfrastructure connects researchers, enables international collaborations and addresses problems on a global scale for the first time. The experience of studying in a foreign lab provides a unique perspective to US scientists as they undertake the challenges and understand the opportunities for new science and engineering.

The Pacific Rim Application and Grid Middleware Assembly (PRAGMA) is an organization whose goals are to establish sustained collaborations and to advance the use of grid technologies in applications. It as 21 member institutions throughout the Pacific Rim. PRAGMA has many ongoing projects which would be appropriate for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, and many of our members are interested in hosting such junior researchers. We are willing to work with interested students and researchers to provide a platform for the research of the students, to identify projects, and to obtain funding from other sources (e.g., funding agencies, see below for one opportunity).

For further information about projects and institutions, please contact an individual below.

• Pacific Rim Application and Grid Middleware Assembly (PRAGMA): Peter Arzberger
• Computer Network Information Center (CNIC), Chinese Academy of Sciences: Kai Nan
• Cybermedia Center, Osaka University (CMC): Shinji Shimojo
• Global Scientific Information and Computer Center (GSIC), Tokyo Institute of Technology: Satoshi Matsuoka
• Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KISTI): Jysoo Lee
• National Center for High-performance Computing (NCHC): Fang-Pang Lin
• National Center for Supercomputing Applications: Radha Nandkumar (radha@ncsa.uiuc.edu)
• National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST): Satoshi Sekiguchi
• Department of Computer Science, Monash University: David Abramson
• StarLight/TransLight/OptIPuter/GLIF: Maxine Brown

We encourage interested researchers to look at the following programs for funding which could be used to work on PRAGMA or PRAGMA-related projects.

The objective of the International Research Fellowship Program
(IRFP) is to introduce scientists and engineers in the early stages of their careers to research opportunities abroad, thereby furthering NSF’s goal of creating a diverse, competitive, and globally-engaged U.S. workforce of scientists, engineers, technologists and well-prepared citizens. These awards are available in any field of science and engineering research and education supported by NSF. Foreign science or engineering centers and other centers of excellence in all geographic regions are eligible host institutions. The duration of the award is up to 24 months, with a residence abroad component for nine to 24 consecutive months.

Deadline: Beginning of November 2007 depending on field of interest. Please see NSF’s IRFP website for further information

The East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes
(EAPSI) provide U.S. graduate students in science and engineering first-hand research experience in Australia, China, Japan, Korea, or Taiwan. During the 8 weeks they receive an introduction to the science and science policy infrastructure of the respective location, plus orientation to the culture and language. The primary goals of EAPSI are to introduce students to East Asia and Pacific science and engineering in the context of a research laboratory, and to initiate personal relationships that will better enable them to collaborate with foreign counterparts in the future.

Deadline: 12 Dec 2007

Should there be other opportunities not listed on this site, please contact Teri Simas or Peter Arzberger.